Apple and Video iPod/iTunes?

[xy14]

and then what? what comes AFTER the video ipod? say a year after? THAT IS THE QUESTION....

a few answers:

1) Wireless iPod for networks
2) Wireless chatting on iPods w/ keyboard connector
3) Better yet, wireless chatting that comes directly from brain waves
4) iPod Movie Mini
5) FM RADIOS IN THE FRIGGIN THINGS!
6) An iTunes Gift Card worth at least $10/one CD w/ purchase of iPod.

 

[dylomel]

ipod video

hmm....so what will come after ipod video ?

 

[shamino]

The iPod enabled listening to my CD collection anywhere; how about a video iPod that lets me watch my DVD collection anywhere - forget silly music videos.

Not unless hard drives grow by a few more orders of magnitude.

My DVD collection consists of well over 100 discs, including whole-series box sets of my favorite TV shows. We're talking about well over 1000 hours of programming.

Now, I don't know exactly what compression ratio you can expect from all this, but I can come up with a ballpark figure. SD television is a resolution of 720x480 at 30 frames per second. At 24-bit color, this is about 31MB per second, or 111GB per hour, uncompressed. If we assume 50:1 compression, we're looking at about 2.2GB per hour, which fits in with a ballpark estimate (a TV show DVD typically holds four episodes of 45 minutes each. 3 hours at this rate is 6.7GB - which is about how much a commercial double-layer DVD holds.)

The largest 1.8" (iPod-size) hard drive made today is 80G, which means about 35 hours of content. The largest 2.5" (laptop-size) hard drive is 100G, meaning 44 hours. The largest 3.5" drive is 400G, meaning 178 hours.

Even if you manage to squeeze another 2:1 or 3:1 compression out of the video, you're still a far cry from being able to carry your entire DVD collection around in your pocket.

 

[shamino]

Whether or not the DRM will allow it, don't assume that you'll have to burn things to DVD to get them to play on your TV.

There are many other ways.

But video files are huge. If you end up with even a moderate sized collection you will quickly have to get those files off of your hard drive and onto something else.

You can back them up onto a data DVD, but that means you have to re-load the file onto your computer/handheld prior to playback, which is very inconvenient. Burning a video DVD solves the problem - you've got your off-line storage, and you can play the video directly from that storage.

There are a number of BIG decisions that Apple has to make right now that will affect the future of the iPod line, and one of them is how download the video content and how to get it to the TV.

Assuming all this talk about video iPods is anything more than wishful thinking by some media pundits.

It is quite likely that Jobs still has no intention to make such a product. And there are many very good reasons why that intention makes sense.

Apple approach to and implementation of video over the next year or so is going to be fascinating to watch.

Assuming they go there at all.

 

[Loge]

Not unless hard drives grow by a few more orders of magnitude.

My DVD collection consists of well over 100 discs, including whole-series box sets of my favorite TV shows. We're talking about well over 1000 hours of programming.

Now, I don't know exactly what compression ratio you can expect from all this, but I can come up with a ballpark figure. SD television is a resolution of 720x480 at 30 frames per second. At 24-bit color, this is about 31MB per second, or 111GB per hour, uncompressed. If we assume 50:1 compression, we're looking at about 2.2GB per hour, which fits in with a ballpark estimate (a TV show DVD typically holds four episodes of 45 minutes each. 3 hours at this rate is 6.7GB - which is about how much a commercial double-layer DVD holds.)

The largest 1.8" (iPod-size) hard drive made today is 80G, which means about 35 hours of content. The largest 2.5" (laptop-size) hard drive is 100G, meaning 44 hours. The largest 3.5" drive is 400G, meaning 178 hours.

Even if you manage to squeeze another 2:1 or 3:1 compression out of the video, you're still a far cry from being able to carry your entire DVD collection around in your pocket.

Yes but these screens are unlikely to be 720 x 480. As with music on the iPod, some sacrifice in quality is to be expected in order to view on the move. After all, when the iPod was launched the hard drive was only 5GB. I agree that an "entire" collection is pushing it - I still can't fit my entire music collection on a 60GB iPod. But a realistic collection is a possibility.

 

[AtHomeBoy_2000]

Yes but these screens are unlikely to be 720 x 480.

THe screen may not be that size, but the vidPod must support that size so it can be hooked up to a TV

 

[askien]

I would buy them

The logistics of selling movies online are complicated because movies are very large.
However, music videos are small, and cool, and I would buy a bunch

I wish they would sell Corona Commercials I love those things and I wish I could have them all.

There is no way to get them on any P2P network that I know of as it is.

I love Corona Commercials. I really do Best thing on TV, by far!

 

[skythefly13]

Hm...

Does anyone else see only 47 music videos in the Library on itunes? What's going on???

 

[Jovian9]

People are reacting as if this is the first time music videos have ever been sold to the public. Go to your local DVD shop and check out the "music" section. You'll see tons of DVDs which are collections of music videos. The same music videos from MTV. The same music videos that the iTMS currently sells/bundles.

One might also say that singles played on the radio are commercials for the album. Why would anyone buy a single?

Exactly. Some people enjoy music videos.....I have a huge collection and want to do this (create/direct) as a hobby in my life. A fair amount of music I listen to is only because I first really enjoyed the videos (Bjork, Nine Inch Nails, White Stripes).

 

[StevieStets]

MTV SUX

Think about this... most downloaded Music Video on iTMS gets airplay on MTV because iTMS is suddenly the most important source of music (soon movies) consumer buying habits. As a result, MTV no longer dictates what consumers listen to - the reverse happens. Finally, good music is played and people with an attention span greater than a fly get to watch what they've always wanted on MTV.

Just a thought. Regardless of your stance, understand one thing - MTV sucks.

 

[rickvanr]

Think about this... most downloaded Music Video on iTMS gets airplay on MTV because iTMS is suddenly the most important source of music (soon movies) consumer buying habits. As a result, MTV no longer dictates what consumers listen to - the reverse happens. Finally, good music is played and people with an attention span greater than a fly get to watch what they've always wanted on MTV.

Just a thought. Regardless of your stance, understand one thing - MTV sucks.

Unfortunately, you couldn't be more wrong. Stations like MTV do play what the majority want. It's just a shame that the majority have bad taste. How do you think Country music survives?

 

[stephenli]

I can't see this being a winner, $1.99 for something that is basically an advertisement for the song, with the possibility of a new iPod in order to play it. What's next - movie trailers for purchase?

I didn't see your point. MV is much more than an advertisement for the song. It is a visual entertainment, which cost thousands and millions in their production - and which does have people willing to pay for appreciation.

 

[ipodG8TR]

My two cents

If Apple makes a video ipod the screen will need to be larger and perhaps widescreen format. Looks like they may start with music videos before moving onto feature length movies. I actually think they will go from videos to tv shows to movies due to the file sizes and slow downloads that would accompany them.

I actually sent the idea to Apple to sell videos over a year ago -- said they should sell videos for $1.99, songs for .99 or both together for $2.50. Looks like they might do exactly that. Not that plenty of other people probably didn't submit similar feedback.

Some people question buying videos since they began as promotional items. I maintain that some videos, and I stress some, are quite artistic and worth purchasing. Some major film producers got their start making videos. Nowadays with MTV and VH1 playing reality shows half the time it is almost impossible to see any good videos. Also, think about how much videos are edited just to make it on tv. I think you have a market for people to see what the artist really intended rather than a chopped-up, censored version. For example, MTV won't even show a gun in a video and they blur logos on clothing. Furthermore, sex sells and if unedited videos are sold there will be an audience. HBO even used to have a show where they would show unedited videos.

Bottom line, some videos are very good, and an art form of their own. The budgets on some videos equal those of some independent movies--for a 3 or 4 minute clip! Tell me some videos from Peter Gabriel, NIN, and others wouldn't be worth buying.

 

[mainstreetmark]

There are many other ways.

But video files are huge. If you end up with even a moderate sized collection you will quickly have to get those files off of your hard drive and onto something else.

You can back them up onto a data DVD, but that means you have to re-load the file onto your computer/handheld prior to playback, which is very inconvenient. Burning a video DVD solves the problem - you've got your off-line storage, and you can play the video directly from that storage.
Assuming all this talk about video iPods is anything more than wishful thinking by some media pundits.

...and wasn't this exactly the state of the world when the first iPod came out? It held, what 1500 songs? I had way more CD's than that. And yes, I did rip them to MP3s and backed them up on a Data CD.

 

[w00master]

THe screen may not be that size, but the vidPod must support that size so it can be hooked up to a TV

720x480, FYI, isn't standard NTSC resolution. Standard NTSC resolution is 640x480. However, if you are talking about DVD resolution, then 720x480 is correct.

Just wanted to clarify this to everyone.

Also, in regards to an earlier post about the "future of podcasting" including video. Well, you're a bit behind. It's been around for "awhile" now. In fact, you can even subscribe to video podcasts via iTunes. Just plug in the RSS feed, and you're set to go.

w00master

 

[JDOG_]

I'm not going to pay $2+ for a music video.

I'm not going to watch it on my iPod.

I'm not going to waste the space of an entire album for a 3 minute video.

I don't think I'm alone in thinking these things

 

[rainman::|:|]

No one seems to be talking about the 'coolness' factor. Apple is well aware that the iPod is on the verge of losing it's coolness, and it needs a boost in that area. Unfortunately, there's little in the way of obvious enhancements. Coolness doesn't have to mean huge technological advances, and it doesn't necessarily have to be cheap. Will video make the iPod cool for another year or two? Personally I don't know. But I could certainly see Apple making a bet and going with it, unless they have some great mini-tablet replacement for the iPod altogether. I just hope Apple realizes they've already used the one-trick pony of different colored products...

 

[seriypshick]

iTunes movie rentals in the near future.

Didn't Steve said that 2005 is the year of HD.

I don't think videoPod is a good idea. But downloading/watching movies on your laptop, desktop or TV would be really cool.

Now lets do the math. In divX a good-quality movie would weight aroung two gigabytes. Acording to Steve jobs H.264 is 4 times smaller, that means 500 megabytes. It would take around 15-20 minutes to download the movie with Broadband. + I'm sure it would be possible to watch movies while it's downloading.

So why would someone w/ broadband internet go to blockbusted to rent a movie; while you can instantly do the same thing on your computer.

I believewe will see this very, very soon.

P.S. English is my third language.

 

[bdkennedy1]

I think it's possible that if they took the iPod and made it flip open then locate the video screen horizontally then the screen would be large enough to watch videos.

 

[bdkennedy1]

No one seems to be talking about the 'coolness' factor. Apple is well aware that the iPod is on the verge of losing it's coolness, and it needs a boost in that area.

Until another company comes out with something cooler, the iPod isn't losing it's coolness factor. And considering the iPod is a 3rd of Apple's income, I would be surprised if they've been working on something cooler over the past 3 years. Note how long they kept Intel a secret.

 

[jtquick2001]

new ipod?

Do you need a new ipod to run videos or with a simple update can you run videos on existing ipod photos? Its probably a dumb Question but it would surely make me mad if I cant do that on my 60 gig ipod photo.

 

[speleoterra]

maybe..

maybe its as simple as putting a lid on it?
this would work, kiss-keep it simple stupid.

 

[Lurch_Mojoff]

Didn't Steve said that 2005 is the year of HD.

I don't think videoPod is a good idea. But downloading/watching movies on your laptop, desktop or TV would be really cool.

Now lets do the math. In divX a good-quality movie would weight aroung two gigabytes. Acording to Steve jobs H.264 is 4 times smaller, that means 500 megabytes. It would take around 15-20 minutes to download the movie with Broadband. + I'm sure it would be possible to watch movies while it's downloading.

So why would someone w/ broadband internet go to blockbusted to rent a movie; while you can instantly do the same thing on your computer.

I believewe will see this very, very soon.

P.S. English is my third language.

I don't want to dispute your math, but here is a quote from Apple's Quicktime site:

Use Scenario  	              Resolution & Frame Rate    Example Data Rates
Mobile Content 	                      176x144, 10-24 fps             50-60 Kbps
Internet/Standard Definition 	      640x480, 24 fps 	               1-2 Mbps
High Definition 	              1280x720, 24p 	               5-6 Mbps
Full High Definition 	              1920x1080, 24p 	               7-8 Mbps

These are the data rates for H.264 encoded content. This means that you would need a pretty good broadband access just to be able to download a movie in realtime (aka stream) in 640x480, 24fps. If you are lucky enough to live in South Korea or Japan you may be able to do the same thing with 720p or even 1080p HD content, but in Europe and North America 8Mbps+ broadband access is far from common. In a year or so there may be a critical mass of 8Mbps+ broadband users and then we may eventually see a iTMS Movies.

Just my 2c

 

[stephenli]

720x480, FYI, isn't standard NTSC resolution. Standard NTSC resolution is 640x480. However, if you are talking about DVD resolution, then 720x480 is correct.

however, 2005 is the YEAR OF HD
so what I am expecting is something HD : at least give us 480p (852 x 480)
many thanks.

It is strange that Apple claim that the current iPod 2 inch display (220 x 176) as high res...The real world is that, Japanese manufacturer like Casio and Sharp have been able to made 2.4 inch display (for mobile phones) in VGA resolution (640 x480).
So i think it should be possible for Apple to give us something HD even if the new iPod video to be equipped with 3 - 4 inch LCD.

 

[sinisterdesign]

hmm....so what will come after ipod video ?

ipod smell-o-vision? ipod hologram? ipod cerebral implant??? (connects via bluetooth or wisdom tooth)